


I won't give up, I won't let go

by LadyofLothal



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (1963), Doctor Who (Big Finish Audio), Doctor Who: The Last (Big Finish Audio)
Genre: (a little bit) (sorta), (but the one that's established in the audio ya know), Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst and Tragedy, Audio: The Last, Charley being "brave"...or trying to as usual, Comfort, Denial, Eight being a sweetie and also in denial, F/M, Honestly basically just a big OUCH ANGST, Hospitalized Character, LIKE SERIOUSLY DO NOT READ IT IF YOU HAVEN'T HEARD THE LAST YET, Major Character Injury, Major Spoilers, Missing Scene, Paralysis, Scherzo References, Unresolved Suffering, but then that was just the whole audio wasn't it, hand holding, probably slightly au, short fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-07
Updated: 2020-04-07
Packaged: 2021-03-01 19:21:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 475
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23522233
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyofLothal/pseuds/LadyofLothal
Summary: A little bitty Missing Scene from The Last that's been pinging around in my brain since I listened to The Last for the first time about a month ago; set sometime while the Doctor is visiting Charley in her "hospital room" after they've both been brought to the bunker. PRETTY HUGE SPOILERS FOR THE LAST.
Relationships: Eighth Doctor & Charley Pollard, Eighth Doctor/Charley Pollard, The Doctor/Charley Pollard
Comments: 5
Kudos: 8





	I won't give up, I won't let go

**Author's Note:**

> so uhhhhh... yeah here's something O-O  
> *yeets this in the general direction of the internet and runs away*
> 
> (also I'm not sure the title even fits but I stink at titling and it's the best I could come up with so *shrug*)  
> *runs away again*

They’d stopped talking and the room had gone silent for a moment. The Doctor had his face turned towards the eye-numbingly white wall, but his mind was somewhere else entirely. He refused to let himself accept Charley’s current state, even as he sat next to the bed they’d lain her in. He wouldn’t let himself acknowledge the fact that her body was still human, still so easily broken. He would find a way to get her away from this place, and together with C’rizz they would find a way to fix all of this. It didn’t bear arguing about – it was simply the only fact his brain would accept. He would not give up on her, not after everything she’d been through with him.

Charley’s voice shook him out of his thoughts – it was even, stable, forcibly so. 

“You’re squeezing my hand, aren’t you?” 

He looked down to find that he had subconsciously been doing just that. He hadn’t even noticed it; it was an automatic reflex at this point. 

“Well, yes.” 

“I can’t feel it.” Her voice had gone softer now and had gained that rough aspect it took on when she was desperately holding back more than she wanted to show. He might be a bit oblivious to human emotions sometimes – alright, most of the time. This body seemed especially inept in that regard. But the Doctor wasn’t a complete fool, not after all this time, not with her. 

And he might be strong, but he wasn’t completely invincible either. As much as he would not allow the thought of her remaining weak and broken like this forever to even take hold in his mind, something about the idea of that lifeline that had kept them together, kept them sane, kept them alive for so much time in the blinding whiteness – their hands held together and the comfort they both drew from the feeling of their palms against each other’s – being gone forever… that was too much even for him. 

With barely a thought of what exactly he was doing, he leaned forward out of the straightbacked chair the nurse had brought for him when he’d first come to the room, reached the hand that had been covering Charley’s up to brush her flaxen hair away from her cheek and ran his fingers along the soft curve of her face. He pressed his lips against hers in a soft kiss. 

When he pulled away he pretended not to notice the wetness around the rims of her eyes or the way her breath shuddered out as she opened them and looked off towards the farthest corner of the room. And she pretended to believe he wasn’t pretending as he settled back into his chair and replaced his hand over hers. Even if she couldn’t feel it, he wasn’t sure he could help himself anymore.

**Author's Note:**

> Alright so here's the thing: The Doctor/River Song is my Doctor Who OTP. I ship it very hard, and it's the only romantic ship with the Doctor that I DO personally ship.  
> But... not long after I got into Doctor Who on TV (over a year ago now, woo!) I started listening to the older Big Finish audios that are free on Spotify (and, ftr, were made BEFORE the show's revival in 2005) and... I kinda slowly slid into low-key shipping Eight and Charley. Which, trust me, surprised me A LOT. Then I finished all their audios on Spotify and just kinda moved on... until recently when I got a friend into DW and specifically these audios and we decided to listen to ALL OF THEM.
> 
> And so here I am.
> 
> I personally view Eight and Charley's canon relationship as "something more than platonic, something less than romantic" (as [bravest_person_in_Wonderland](https://archiveofourown.org/users/bravest_person_in_Wonderland) described it the other day). It's deep and they care an awful lot about each other, they even outright SAY they love each other on several occasions... but what exactly that _means_ is always left quite ambiguous and undefinable, as is most of their relationship in general.  
> But then this popped into my head while I was listening to The Last, and hasn't left me alone since, so I had to write it. It just seems... really really in-character for Eight to do something like this in this situation, and not out of place in their relationship.
> 
> So yeah! That was a bit of a rant, but... I guess I wanted to explain some background on it, lol. Hope y'all like it! Kudos and comments would really make my day, and hopefully I'll be posting more stuff soon. :D


End file.
